


White Noise

by nullsession



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Eridan is hella rich, Humanstuck, M/M, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, Soft and Fluffy, and his dad is shady, mentions of eating disorders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-05-08 02:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14684592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nullsession/pseuds/nullsession
Summary: Eridan had never been fond of the silence that he lived in.Sollux wished he could get some peace and quiet.~Eridan and Sollux in a story of private schools, making new friends, and falling in love with someone who is perhaps the exact opposite of them.





	1. Chapter 1

Eridan lived in a big house and when he said big, he meant massive. He meant so big he hadn't seen all of it. Not only was he not permitted in the north wing of the house or the basements, yes plural, but he hadn't really bothered to see it all. It was not for lack of trying, at first he really did try to look at all of it. He remembered a day when he was a child where he tried to explore the house and ended up getting lost and sitting in a library he didn't even know they had until a maid found him and brought him back to his room.

Ever since then he hadn't bothered exploring much and his mother was constantly renovating and rearranging that he hadn't really wanted to try again. It was one thing to get lost in your own house when you were 5, it was another thing to get lost when you were nearly 15. His house was always under construction and he figured he'd probably never see it all. 

This wouldn't have bothered him if not for one major flaw in the expansion of their house. Since the house was constantly being expanded, his mother tended to be right in the middle of it, giving directions and overseeing the workers, and that meant Eridan didn't know where to find her. Add that to his father constantly being in the ‘forbidden’ wing when home and his brother being away at college and Eridan would go days without seeing his family. This was even worse during summers and other time off school when they didn't have a family vacation planned. He would go days or even weeks without any human interaction especially if his only friend Feferi was away on holiday with her parents. 

They used to make the effort to eat dinner together as a family, but when Cronus went to college and his mother doubled her efforts to make their house bigger and better, his father had decided that they would only need to have dinner together if he had something he needed to tell him. This left Eridan at the dining table, alone and picking at his food, while the help made themselves scarce. Maybe that's why he'd gotten so thin, he very rarely made the effort to get something to eat when it meant sitting by himself in a dining room that could easily seat 20 people. 

It got to the point where the cooking staff stopped making him food all together and only ever cooked for him when he asked for it. This made it even more difficult when he did want to eat because he was forced to ask for it and he was never really good at interacting with other people, even if he was desperately wanting some interaction with any human being.

He'd taken to ordering stuff online. Boxes of his favorite snacks and drinks. He spent most days sustaining himself on bags of chips, sweet tea, and gummy candy that looked like little fish. It probably wasn't the healthiest but summers never were, so he didn't really think too much about it.

It was almost a month into his summer break and he hadn't done much besides play video games alone and swim in his indoor pool alone, sometimes his outdoor pool but it was too quiet without the speakers set up to play music, and reading books alone in his room. He was about two weeks of living off of only potato chips and Swedish fish, when he thought about getting an actual meal out of the chefs. This lead to the predicament that he was in now.

He hadn't gone downstairs in a while, what with never leaving the house and having all his packages brought up to his room. He hadn't had the need to leave his wing and enter the main foyer which lead to the dining room and the kitchens. This shouldn't have been such a big deal but he left his wing and went down a couple flights of stairs that he knew lead to the front door except when he got there… the door wasn't there. 

He didn't think the door had magically moved, but he didn't recognize any of the furniture around him. He must have taken a wrong turn somewhere but he didn't know where it had happened and he realized he did not know how to get to the kitchen from here. He could just turn around and head back to his room but there was no way he could go another month on snacks and he'd eventually need the front door to go back to school and by then who knows how much more would change or if he'd be able to find it. 

He considered calling his mother but she rarely answered his calls when she knew he was in the house and calling his father was out of the question. He also decided against embarrassing himself by calling his brother for directions in the house while he wasn’t even there, he could practically hear Cronus laughing at him. He would never let it go. He sighed and squared his shoulders and turned right and just kept walking because there was only so much he could do in this house. It's not like they had a map located anywhere. Even if they did, he probably wouldn't be able to find that either. 

He entered somewhere he thought he might remember as the weird sitting room with the velvet couches, the room was shaped the same way, but the couches were gone and in their place were leather ones that he knew he'd never seen before. 

He pretended he knew exactly where he was and turned left where he remembered the other sitting room led into the hallway that would lead him to the sitting room with the bar that would lead him to the dining room, that they preferred to have their sparse family meals in because it was smaller, that would eventually lead to the doorway that the kitchen was behind. His house was like a maze and not for the first time, Eridan found himself cursing the house for being so huge. He used to think the house was alive and constantly fucking with him and he realized now that it wasn't, but that didn't stop him from wanting to punch a wall.

He entered a room that he's pretty sure was the ballroom they had Cronus’ high school graduation party in. It was huge and empty with high ceilings and chandeliers. There was a large bar on one side and a stage on the other. The floor was made of dark wood and besides a couple of stools by the bar, there was no other furniture. He sighed. He recognized the room but he had walked down here with his brother and didn't know how to get anywhere but to the bathroom from here. 

He walked into the middle of the room and let himself fall to the floor. He gazed at the biggest chandelier in the center of the room and wondered what Fef was doing. It was probably a whole lot more fun than laying on the floor, starving, with only bottles of liquor and gleaming glasses as company. The room was quiet but that was hardly a surprise. The whole house was a very quiet place and he had grown accustomed to it. He remembered he used to be scared of it, since the only sound there ever really was was the sound of his own breathing and the cracking of the house settling. He had grown to know silence rather well, but that didn't mean he was fond of it, he was just used to it.

He was used to going days without hearing anyone or anything that he didn't put on the tv himself. He was used to going days without saying anything to the point where when he did finally say something he had to clear his throat a couple of times before his own voice felt familiar. It reminded him of when he would go back to school and pick up a pencil after weeks of not writing and he'd have to sort of learn how to write in his own handwriting again. Eridan was very used to having to remember how to speak.

He didn't know how long he'd been there, gazing at the chandelier, but the room was growing darker as the sun went down and stopped spreading light in through the windows, when Eridan got an idea. He looked to the windows again and got up before heading toward one. 

If he couldn't remember how to get to a room while inside the house, maybe he could go outside, find the front door, and start from there. It seemed like a good idea in his tired mind so he opened a window and tried to climb out of it. He was mostly successful, he did fall into the shrubs, but he didn't hurt himself too badly so he considered it a success.

He wiped the dirt off his pants and walked away from the house before turning toward it and placing his hands on his hips. He didn't know which part of the house this was, the right or the left, but he figured if he just went any direction he'd find the front door eventually. 

He did eventually make it to the main fountain and driveway of the house, after he crossed a garden of roses he didn't remember having before the summer. This was all well and good until he went to the front door and found it locked. Perhaps it was because he was exhausted and hungry or whatever but Eridan felt his eyes grow hot as he tried to hold back his tears. 

He must have been tired because he slumped down onto the front steps and wouldn't think about ringing the doorbell until a little later. A doorman would answer the door, a little confused since he hadn't seen the youngest Ampora leave, let him in and Eridan would slump his way to his room and collapse in his bed and fall asleep thinking about sandwiches. 

Eridan really hated summer break.

~~~

Sollux’s house was too small. Calling it a house was probably an insult to actual houses. It was two bedrooms and one bath and that probably wouldn't have been such a bad thing if he didn't have to share a room with Mituna.

Don't get him wrong, he loved his brother, but between the two of them there wasn't any space to live in their room. The floor was covered in clothing, both clean and dirty, because Mituna dug through his half of the closet and his drawers in the dresser every morning before getting dressed and the clothes that he pulled out tended to stay there until Sollux or their dad put it away. Add this to the stuffed animals his brother insisted he was not too old to collect and all of Sollux’s computer equipment and cables that littered the floor and their room was too messy and cramped to be comfortable.

To add insult to injury they had bunk beds. Sollux was fifteen years old and had to share bright yellow bunk beds with his older brother. He was starting high school next month and he would have to come home to bunk beds like he had his whole damn life. Sollux hated the bunk beds. The top bunk was an asshole especially. It squeaked if the occupant moved even the slightest bit and after Mituna’s movements had been too much for Sollux to bear he had all but kicked his brother off his bed, and given him the bottom bunk. Sollux rarely slept but when he did, he wanted as much quiet as he could get. 

Even without the squeaks of the bed he still had to deal with his father snoring in the other room and Mituna laughing in his sleep, but he had to take what he could get. 

His house seemed so small that he had to brush his teeth and piss while his brother was showering and vice verse and he never had any space for himself. 

It was on this current morning, about a month before the school year would start again, that Sollux really wanted to pee without Mituna barging in. This wouldn't have been so hard if Sollux could lock the door but Mituna didn't do well with locked doors and their father had removed all of them except for the one on the front door years ago. Sollux didn't even have to pee, it was just the idea of wanting to pee alone and not being able to that was bugging him.

Mituna was singing loudly in their room so Sollux had grabbed his laptop and tried to go to the living room, but today was his dad's day off and he was cooking something, talking on the phone, and watching something on tv all at the same time. Sollux had felt his eye twitch and decided to go to the bathroom. It was relatively clean and when he closed the door, relatively quiet. 

He could hear his father’s muffled laughter and his brother’s distant off-key singing, but this was as good as it was going to get.

He wished he could go out and find some peace and quiet but he needed wifi and he didn't exactly have any friends he could hang out with. He also didn't want to be that guy sitting on his laptop at a Starbucks or McDonald's without buying anything and he didn't have any money on him. He could probably ask his dad but those places weren't exactly quiet or peaceful either so he figured there was no point. 

He got maybe thirty minutes of relative peace when he heard his brother wander into the hallway, probably bored of singing, before the door to the bathroom opened and his brothers grinning face appeared.

“You're not taking a dump, are you?”

“If I was, would you leave?” Sollux asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nope,” his brother said, popping the p. He entered the bathroom and hopped up on the sink, dangling his legs, still grinning. “Whatcha doing?”

Sollux sighed. So much for his alone time. “Working on a virus.”

“What’s it do?”

“Corrupt every file of whoever opens it.”

Mituna gasped. “Does it really?”

“That's the plan.”

“That's kinda cool,” Mituna’s grin widened to show slightly crooked teeth that matched Sollux’s own and Sollux could feel himself grin too. Mituna then proceeded to let him get absolutely no progress made on his virus and the bathroom was starting to feel very hot. 

When dinner came and him and his brother and father gathered around their tiny table in their kitchen, because they didn't have a dining room, he almost cried. 

His father had made mac and cheese and while Mituna absolutely loved mac and cheese, Sollux absolutely did not. He sighed and stuffed a bit into his mouth, wishing and thinking about sandwiches.

Sollux really hated summer break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is very self-indulgent and something i like to write when i can't sleep  
> i already have a couple of chapters written for it so i will be updating this very soon  
> i hope u like it !


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eridan calls Feferi and buys too much school supplies.
> 
> Sollux gets his school uniforms and hates fancy cheese.

Eridan did not end up finding the kitchen. Instead he found a maid sweeping outside of his room the following day and asked if she could perhaps let the cooking staff know that he wanted something to eat and when she walked away to go do that, Eridan had told her he would just go with her since he was wanting to eat now anyways. He walked a couple steps behind her and mentally made a map of the turns they took and the rooms they entered so he'd be able to find his way back. One of the cooks made him a sandwich and a salad and he ate that quickly before going back to his room. He was probably going to be okay food wise for the next week, but he did draw a sort of map of the route he took to get to the kitchen in case he wanted to go back and forgot his way again. 

He laid down after his meal and stared at his ceiling wondering if he should get a pet. He had owned fishes when he was younger but his mother claimed that they clashed with the wallpaper so he'd had to get rid of them. He thought about maybe getting a cat to keep in his room. His parents would be completely against it but they never went to his room. They wouldn't even know if he brought home a stray.

He imagined that for a while, what it would be like to share his room with something living and breathing, until he remembered how loyal the staff was to his father and pushed away any and all thoughts of pets. They would tell his father and Eridan didn't want to be punished. Last time Eridan was punished he'd had his wifi cut off and his dinners taken away and he was already bored enough and hungry enough as it was. 

He contemplated turning on his tv and watching mind numbing reality shows or perhaps going for a swim. He did neither. He just kept staring at his ceiling and looking at the scale like pattern of his comforter reflect onto it. He spent the day shifting around watching the glare dance on the ceiling and thinking about how boring he and his life was. 

He just had to get through another month and then he would at least have school to distract him. 

He was starting high school in the fall and he was almost excited. It was a private school but that hardly meant much to him since his middle school had been a private school too. It was, however, much bigger than his previous school and that meant there were going to be people he hadn't already gone to school with. He thought about maybe making another friend. 

Just as quickly as he dismissed the thoughts of getting a cat, he dismissed thoughts of a friend.

Eridan wasn't very good at making friends. He often came off as very pretentious because of his accent. His father was Italian and his mother was French, it's not his fault that English was his third language and as a result he didn't pronounce some words correctly and he tripped over his v’s and w’s. Add that to him being very thoughtless with the things he said _in_ his accent and he often came off as mean as well as pretentious. He wasn't trying to be mean, he just didn't censor his thoughts very often and people tended to take what he said the wrong way and get offended. 

Feferi often times begged him to stop shoving his foot in his mouth but Eridan could only change himself so much. There had been a time in middle school when he used to change himself to try to get people to like him and that hadn’t worked out, so he saw no point in trying to impress others anymore. Eridan was known for being prissy and an asshole by the people that did know him and he hoped that sentiment wouldn't carry over into high school. 

 

He spent the rest of the week reading plays and acting out parts in his room. He didn't think he was a very good actor but doing different voices was fun and it helped him actually say stuff out loud, instead of staying quiet for hours or days on end.

Feferi had called him a couple times as well. She was in Paris for the summer with her family and she told him all about the hotel she was staying in. Apparently it was very luxurious and had a breakfast buffet which she was very fond of. She told him about a cafe she'd gone to with her mother and how she took so many photos in front of the Eiffel Tower with her sister. She asked what Eridan was up to at home and he told her about getting lost on his way to the kitchen and after she scolded him for not eating, they laughed together. Feferi had gotten lost in his house once before and it always seemed to be able to make her laugh that Eridan still wasn't able to find his way around his own home.

“You should really go outside though,” she said as she finished laughing. “You always lose a bit of your tan in the summer, that's not how this is supposed to go!”

“How am I supposed to go outside if I can't find my front door? Besides sickly pale is in right now.”

She laughed again. “Glob, I miss you! Only two more weeks and we'll be starting high school, how exciting! This is gonna be our year, I can feel it!”

Eridan liked to think that this was going to be their year too. Even if she did tend to say that every year was gonna be their year and surprise, it never was. At least not for him. Feferi was very sweet and very well liked among their previous peers. Every year tended to be good to her. 

“Have a nice time on your trip Fef and don't forget to bring me a souvenir,” he said even though he knew she always brought him back a ring. His hand were covered in rings from her trips and his own. Right now he had on a ring from Dubai, Italy, France, Russia, Germany, and Brazil, with many others in a jewelry box Fef had bought for him on her last trip to Mexico. His hands were very well travelled.

“Of course I won't forget, silly! I'll talk to you soon Eridan!”

 

The next week wasn't very eventful either. He spent most of it thinking about random stuff that would end up upsetting him to the point where he'd nap off his discomfort. It was on one of those days that he thought about his parents. 

Eridan did not think his parents cared very much about him. They didn't hate him per say, even if his father did seem more strict and cold than necessary. They just seemed to think they completed their parental duties to him and his brother and now they were on their own. While that seemed to make sense in Cronus’ case, since he was in college, this gave him a lot more responsibility to himself that he could deal with.

On that particular day it was the responsibility of getting supplies for school that had him troubled. He supposed he could just ask one of the staff to get it for him but he really wanted to get it on his own and give himself a sense of productivity. Only problem was he didn't know what he needed. He was on his laptop browsing at relevant supplies like notebooks and pencils and probably adding too much to his cart. He didn't know if he had specific materials he needed so he just got a bit of everything. He even got himself a new book bag because his old one seemed too childish for a high schooler. He settled for a nice faux leather book bag and went ahead and checked out from the different sites he was browsing.

Perhaps he was being a bit excessive but Eridan wanted to be prepared for anything. If that included needing a pack of 120 makers in various shades of pastels, so be it. He would be ready. 

He got express shipping on his orders and everything had arrived within the next couple of days. He spent the rest of that week organizing and rearranging his room to adhere to all the supplies he'd gotten. His room started to look a bit like a kindergarten with all the colored pencils and notebooks he had laying around, but he didn't mind it too much. His room was mostly in shades of dark purple and black so the added color was a welcoming addition to the somber mood of his room.

With only a couple of days left until he entered high school, he felt anxious and excited. A maid had left his uniforms, pressed and tailored to his exact measurements, in his closet and Eridan hadn’t been able to stop himself from trying it on. It was very similar to his previous uniforms, but in different colors. The pants were a dark grey and tailored to fit his thin legs nicely. On top there was a white buttoned down shirt, a dark blue vest with the schools insignia embroidered on the right, and a dark grey tie. There was also a fitted black blazer with the same embroidered design as on the vest that completed the uniform. Eridan had been wearing school uniforms since he was a child and as far as uniforms went, he really liked this one. Cronus had gone to the same high school, but rarely ever wore the vest, the tie, or buttoned his shirt all the way, and only ever wore the blazer when it was cold. Somehow the uniform he was wearing now seemed nothing like the one his brother had worn for the last four years. 

He could already imagine that many people were going to be like his brother and only wear the parts of the uniform that they liked, but he thought the uniform looked best when worn together. He couldn’t wait to see how Fef looked in her uniform, he hoped she liked it just as much as he did.

 

~~~

 

The rest of Sollux’s week went about the same as the previous ones had. He woke up, fixed himself and Mituna breakfast that was either eggs or cereal because he couldn’t really cook, and spent the rest of the day on his desktop or laptop. With his dad at work most of the day he got to have some time on his own in the living room or his room depending on where Mituna was. It wasn’t so bad but Sollux was looking forward to having a reason to leave the house even if it was for school.

Speaking of school, Sollux had gotten into a very prestigious and _expensive_ high school.

He hadn’t even wanted to go there. His middle school counselor had practically shoved the application into his arms and made him turn it in. He had gone over it on his own and almost shit himself when he saw the tuition but his school counselor has advised him to try testing into the school for their scholarship program. He read about it online, how they wanted bright young minds to take part in what they had to offer and while he scoffed at their advertising, he did it. Although, he only did it because she kept pulling him out of his technology class and he hadn’t expected or wanted to get in. He hadn’t even tried very hard on the exam after seeing how pretentious the school was and how nervous the other kids trying to test in had looked. He didn’t want to be the poor kid that got into a rich school because of good grades. How fucking lame would that be?

But when the results came in and his school counselor has pulled him out of his technology class _again_ , she had almost hugged him in her excitement.

“I knew you had it in you, Sollux,” She had said as she passed him his results. 

“Huh.” He had passed every section perfectly. He knew he was smart, smarter than any kid here ever hoped to be, but he hadn’t known he was _that_ smart. She had congratulated him again and said that she would speak to his dad about it. 

His dad had been so proud of him that Sollux couldn’t say that he’d rather go anywhere but there. So that’s how he ended up, two weeks before starting school remembering that he had to get his uniforms. He had put it off because each uniform set was so damn expensive, he hadn’t wanted to bring it up. Turned out he didn’t have to because on his father’s next day off of work, he left Mituna with their neighbors, a very nice girl named Latula and her mom, and had taken him to the store that sold his school’s uniforms.

The store was the nicest store he’d ever stepped foot in. It was clearly a clothing store with racks of pants, shirts, vests, and blazers placed strategically around the store, but there was also a table covered in crackers, cheeses, and champagne glasses. He’d had to do a double take when a man in a suit passed by them with glasses of wine balanced on a tray. 

A store assistant had come up to them with the fakest smile and had asked if she could help them. From the glance she’d made at their clothing she’d probably wondered why they were in there and if they were lost. Sollux rolled his eyes and pulled out a piece of paper.

“I need this,” he said and shoved the paper in her face. His dad chastised him and the assistant backed away slightly eyeing the paper before her face lit up.

“Oh yes, right this way!” she said excitedly, changing her whole demeanor. Sollux thought it was probably because they were about to give her hundreds of dollars in sales.

She proceeded to lead him around the store grabbing the various articles of clothing he needed in sizes she assumed would fit him. “We have a tailor who can alter what needs altering,” she said as she grabbed a pair of pants that seemed too big for him. He was taller than he had a right to be at his age so he supposed getting them altered was the only way he’d find pants that were long enough. She then shoved him in a dressing area that had rooms along one side and mirrors along the other, with sofas scattered around the center. There were other boys standing in front of mirrors as a tailor pinned things in place and their parents sat on the sofas drinking champagne. It was all so high class, Sollux wanted to puke. He turned to give a look to his dad, but his dad was trying to politely refuse a glass of alcohol from a suited man. 

It wasn’t even that he was uncomfortable around rich people or luxury. He wouldn’t consider his family poor or anything, he just saw all of this as a pointless way to spend money. Who really needed to eat aged cheese when trying on clothing? No one, that’s who. If this was the store that sold his school uniforms he could only imagine what the actual school and its students would be like when he started. 

He sighed and locked himself in one of the changing rooms and proceeded to try on his uniform. He’d never worn a uniform before, since he’d gone to public schools, but after putting on the white collared shirt and sweater vest, he was already missing his baggy t-shirts. He put on the rest of his uniform and stepped out of the dressing room to see his dad’s beaming face and it was almost worth how stuffy the clothes was. Almost, but not quite.

The rest of his time in the store consisted of too many layers of clothing and hands too close to places they shouldn’t be. He’d think the tailor was trying to cop a feel if it weren't for his father sitting a couple feet away from him, watching over as his pants were pinned in various places.

“That should do it,” The tailor said as he finished up and stepped away and the assistant had let them know that they would give them a call in a couple of days when the uniforms were ready to be picked up. Sollux couldn’t get out of the uniform and out of the store quick enough.

“Alright?” his dad asked once they were back in the car.

“I feel like I just came back from hell.” His dad laughed and took him to get food so all in all it wasn’t too bad.

A couple of days later his dad tossed his tailored uniforms into his room and that was that. Sollux was the, not so, proud owner of clothing that was way too expensive to be in his messy room. Mituna had oohed and ahhed until Sollux had tried them on for him. The fit wasn’t so bad, but Sollux knew he wasn’t gonna wear it all if he could get away with it. Even if he couldn’t he wasn’t about to spend everyday in a sweater vest, that was just too lame. He was already going to school on a scholastic scholarship, he didn’t need anymore ammunition to feed his nerdiness. With only about a week left until school started, Sollux wished summer would never end no matter what he had been saying for the last two months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They'll be starting school next chapter!  
> I appreciate kudos and comments :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of high school!

On Eridan’s first day of school, he woke up a lot earlier than he normally did. This was because he actually had to do his hair. He’d just redyed the purple streak in his hair a couple of nights ago and he really hoped the school would let him keep it. He’d read the dress code diligently since he had several ear piercings, dyed hair, wore too many rings, and was a fan of keeping his nails painted. He knew he was breaking rules with his appearance but he wasn’t about to let that stop him from expressing himself. 

Eridan had called Feferi with his worries and she’d gotten a pink streak in her hair to help him “Fight the man” whoever that was, and with her own double pierced ears, painted fingernails, and short skirts he hoped they would be able to get away with it. Or at the very least, go down together. That or Feferi’s mother could donate a large sum to the school while they conveniently didn’t notice that Feferi wore open toed shoes along with the rest of her fashion rule breaking, like she’d done in middle school. Feferi’s mother liked to talk about fighting power with more power and how that tended to be done with money, but that was a conversation for another time.

Eridan finished his hair with a final run of his fingers and went about getting himself dressed. It didn’t take long since he’d laid everything out the day before and soon he was walking downstairs toward where his driver would take him to school. He'd been hoping to maybe see his mother before he started school but she was nowhere to be found and Eridan didn't want to risk getting lost. He sent her a quick text message stating that he would be out for school and exited the house. It was still fairly early but he’d been too anxious to sit around his room and figured that the sooner he saw Fef, the sooner he’d been able to exhale. 

 

The school was exactly as it always had been when he tagged along to pick up his brother in the times where he hadn’t driven himself. The school was tall and had an old, Victorian Gothic design to it with archways and looming windows. For how old it looked on the outside, the inside was fairly modern. The first thing he saw when he entered the building were rows of lockers and he quickly made his way to where he assumed his would be since they were in alphabetical order. That was always one of the things that annoyed him. Ampora was so far away from Peixes and their lockers were never near one another's. There was already a couple of people stuffing their things in their lockers, but Eridan didn’t recognize them. It excited and scared him that he had no idea who they were and they had no idea who he was.

He busied himself with placing his own book bag into his locker and pulling out his phone when a familiar voice excitedly called out to him.

“Eridan~” the voice said happily and Eridan turned to see Feferi running toward him. He barely had enough time to open his arms and catch her as she threw herself at him. 

“Oh Eridan, you look so thin,” she said in lieu of a greeting. She frowned slightly as she released him enough to look up at his face

“I’m on a new mediterranean diet,” he said even though they both knew it was because he didn’t really eat anything all summer.

“It’s done wonders,” she played along anyways because she probably didn't want to get into an argument over his eating habits this early in the morning.

“The prominence of my ribs contrasts nicely with the hollowness of my cheeks, don’t you think?”

She scowled playfully before laughing. “And your pale complexion really makes the darkness of your under eyes pop.”

If it had been anyone else Eridan would have been offended, but it was Fef and she only ever made fun of him to tease, not to hurt. He rolled his eyes. “You look amazin’.” she had finally backed off enough for him to take a look at her. Her hair was a bit longer than it had been the last time he’d seen her, and it now featured a curly pink streak. She was wearing her full uniform besides her blazer and had the sleeves of her white shirt rolled to her elbows, showing off the various bangles and bracelets and her own assortment of rings that decorated her arms and fingers. As he had thought, she had refused to wear shoes and instead was wearing sandals that showed off her bright pink nail polish, various toe rings, and anklets. 

“Nice shoes.”

Eridan thought she looked beautiful and a surge of warmth filled him when her freckled face smiled at him as she wiggled her toes. 

“I’ve spent the last two months on the beaches of France, there’s no way a bunch of stuffy teachers are going to force me to wear socks.” Eridan had missed her.

“Are we going to fight the man?” he asked and she giggled in a way that only she could make sound adorable instead of annoying.

“Oh yes!” 

So far Eridan’s first day was not horrible.

 

~~~

 

Sollux had woken up early. He had not meant to wake up early. In fact, he had his alarm set for about an hour after he’d actually gotten up. He refused to say he was nervous for his first day of school, so he blamed his upset stomach on the pizza he’d had last night and proceeded to get into his uniform in the dark as Mituna kept on snoring.

His dad was in the kitchen making coffee when he finished putting on his uniform, besides the stupid vest, and he offered him a grunt as he went to grab a bowl from the cupboard.

“Excited for school?” his dad asked even though he knew Sollux was very rarely excited about anything.

“Super,” his lisp was a little worse in the mornings but his dad had gotten very used to understanding him and Mituna.

His dad gave a soft chuckle and took the milk out of the fridge for him. “You’ll be fine.”

Sollux did not answer but the words did help to settle his stomach a little. When he finished his bowl of cereal and managed to not puke his guts out, his dad told him to go wait for him in the car. 

The ride wasn’t very long since they lived quite close to the school, but it felt like it went on for ages. Sollux already had his class schedule and he knew that homeroom was his first class of the day. Normally this would be good since nobody ever really did anything in homeroom, but they'd told him that he was going to have this same homeroom for the rest of his time in high school. It was supposed to promote a sense of camaraderie or some shit but it just left Sollux feeling ill.

When they arrived at school and his dad dropped him off with a smile, he had gotten out of the car on shaking legs and a crumbling resolve that was not being helped by the way the school towered over him. But he pushed on and opened the main door to see the rows of lockers. He had not known they were in alphabetical order but it was easy enough to figure out when he saw that the right had all the Z’s. He moved toward the left and saw that there were not very many B’s, so it left his locker on one side of the first row of lockers. 

He was putting his stuff in when he heard some girl’s voice call someone and then a flash of said girl went past him. She threw herself at some guy that was putting his stuff in one of the first couple of lockers on the other side of the row and he fumbled to catch her.

“Oh Eridan, you look so thin,” he heard the girl say.

“I’m on a new Mediterranean diet,” The guy replied and Sollux rolled his eyes. He had a second where he thought they were pretentious until they kept talking and he realized they were actually joking about the guys appearance. 

“The prominence of my ribs contrasts nicely with the hollowness of my cheeks, don’t you think?” The guy went on and the girl replied, “And your pale complexion really makes the darkness of your under eyes pop.” Sollux had barely caught his snort of amusement in time. He cleared his throat and coughed a little but they didn’t seem to notice. It was then that Sollux saw that the two of them had colored hair and way too much jewelry decorating their arms and fingers. He’d read the dress code out of boredom and he knew they didn’t allow that stuff. His father had gotten him a pair of dress shoes since they seemed very adamant about not allowing sneakers, but the girl in front of him had on sandals. 

He was suddenly grateful that he’d chosen to wear his glasses even if they didn’t fit in with the policies. 

“Are we going to fight the man?” the purple haired boy asked after they talked about their own choice of uniform altering.

“Oh yes!” the girl said and Sollux could agree with them. He wasn’t about to let the school make him show his weird as fuck eyes.

 

Finding his classroom had been a bitch. He didn't have a map and he never asked for directions to anything in his life, so he had to look around a lot longer than he would have liked for the classroom. The classroom itself was unassuming but still _fancy_. It was a standard classroom as far as he could tell. There was a wooden podium to the right of the door with a white board behind it and several desks in rows, with a larger desk in the back corner for their teacher. There were large windows along the wall opposite of the door with open blinds to let the sun in and while it wasn't much different than the classrooms he'd seen before, it still felt very luxurious. 

Sollux decided that was bad thing. The last thing he needed was to be wary of ruining a genuine mahogany school desk.

“Come in,” someone who Sollux supposed was the teacher said as he stood in the doorway. “The seating chart is posted on the board. Please find your seat and wait for class to start.”

Sollux did just that and was pleased to find that he had the window seat in the second row. It was more toward the front than he would have liked, but it wasn’t terrible. He placed his backpack under his chair and let his cheek fall into one hand as he drummed the other along the surface of the desk. More people started piling in, walking toward the board and the list that was taped to it before finding their own seats. A lot of them were already speaking among themselves and Sollux realized that this was probably gonna go the same way every other school year had gone. With him being the quiet kid that hardly talked and when he did, he was a smart ass. He'd almost resigned himself to that role when a familiar face entered the door.

Purple haired guy went up the board and frowned slightly before turning and walking toward Sollux’s direction. He apparently had the seat right in front of him because suddenly purple hair was placing his book bag carefully on the desk before sitting down, bringing a wave of what smelled like lavender and the ocean to Sollux’s senses as he leaned back in his chair.

Sollux was overcome with the need to say something to the other boy, but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth and he cursed his stupid social ineptitude for making him such a dumbass when it came to shit like this. He didn't have very long to curse himself out mentally because the teacher stood in the front of the class and cleared her throat.

“Hello, welcome to homeroom. I am Ms. Megido, I will be your homeroom teacher for the remainder of your time here.” She proceeded to explain what homeroom would be for. Mainly just finishing homework, tutoring, building friendships, planning for college, etc, but Sollux wasn't really paying attention. He did however tune back in when she mentioned an assignment.

“Now I know you probably don't want to have a project due so soon after the first day, but I believe this assignment will be beneficial to you all in the long run.” She told them that their project was going to be a presentation about themselves and their families, except there was a twist. Everyone was going to have a partner and instead of making their presentation on themselves, they were going to make the presentation on the other person.

If you asked Sollux it seemed like a horrible idea. Not only was he going to have to talk about his family with some random person, but he was gonna have to listen to someone talk about _their_ family and then present to the fucking class. 

She pulled a clipboard off the podium and continued. “Your partners will be randomly chosen, please listen for your names.” She called out people's names and Sollux saw how they looked at each other in various states of nerves and excitement depending on who they were partnered with. Sollux was dreading his partner choice already.

“Sollux Captor and Eridan… Ampora?” The teacher stopped to look up and around the classroom before her eyes landed on the boy in front of him. “Your brother was a student of mine last year.”

Eridan, presumably, nodded. “Yes.” 

“This should be interesting,” she didn't smile but her eyes crinkled and it was probably close enough. Sollux then realized that he was partners with purple hair and maybe panicked a little.

“Okay now that you all have your partners I can hand out the syllabus and requirements for the project.” The more the teacher spoke about the project the more he dreaded it. He didn't want people to know anything about his life. He'd rather stab a fork in his eye than tell them about his family, but other people didn't seem to share his sentiment because no one seemed all that worried about it. “The project is due next Monday and while we will have time in class, I hope that you will take the time to get to know your partner outside of class as well.” She then gave them time to talk to their partners and while a lot of people moved around and switched seats. Sollux’s partner only had to turn around.

Sollux was not cheesy or poetic or anything of that sort, but when Eridan turned around he was pretty sure time slowed down. His face was slightly tan, smooth and blemish free, soon to be the envy of many in their school he was sure. The bridge of his nose was long and regal and his lips were full and glossy from what he assumed must be chapstick. His eyebrows were groomed to delicate arches and the purple streak in his hair didn't seem all that annoying when he noticed the soft waves of his hair. Sollux had never found anyone, boy or girl, beautiful and he really hoped he wasn't gawking.

“Um.” The other boy scrunched his brows in confusion and Sollux thought _cute_ and almost scowled at his own treacherous thoughts.

“So how's that Mediterranean diet working out for you?” Sollux said because he was a goddamn idiot. 

Eridan looked confused for a second before he seemed to realize that he'd been the one to say that beforehand. He sort of smiled, at least Sollux assumed it was a smile, it was more like a grimace if he were being honest.

“It's goin’ well. Lost 15 pounds in a month. At this rate I'll be back to my original weight in no time.” His voice had an accent Sollux couldn't place.

“Original weight?” He asked.

“Yeah I think I was about 4 or 5 pounds when I was born, but 6 would be fine too.”

Sollux snorted. “Guess I should probably write that down and put that on your presentation. Purple hair was 4 or 5 pounds when he was born, has made it his life goal to revert to a fetus.”

Eridan laughed at his joke and Sollux’s chest warmed.

“Speakin’ of the project, we should really get that done outside of school. I don't really fancy tellin’ you about my life in class.” Sollux agreed with him, except for one Mituna shaped problem he had at his own home.

 

~~~

 

“Well we can't do it at my house,” Sollux said and Eridan almost deflated. He'd thought they were getting along quite well but his outright rejection of his idea was making Eridan have second thoughts.

Eridan thought of the winding hallways and the rooms with furniture he didn't recognize in his own home and hesitated, but didn't really see another option. “I suppose we can do it at my house, but we don't have any food so if you want somethin’ to eat, we’re goin’ to have to stop somewhere before hand.”

Sollux half shrugged and that was that. It wasn't until class was over and Sollux had left that he realized they hadn't set a day or time to actually do the project. This left Eridan with the added responsibility of tracking Sollux down.

It turned out to be a lot easier than he thought because toward the end of the day, they had another class together. It was math, a subject that Eridan was not fond of. He spotted Sollux sitting toward the back, slouched into the seat and appearing very nonchalant, and then he spotted a familiar head of curly hair toward the right and made his way toward her. She turned when she felt someone near her and smiled when he took the seat beside her. 

“Hey,” he said, tension he didn't even know he had leaving his body when he sat down next to her.

“Hey yourself. How's the day been treating you?” Feferi's asked.

“Like shit,” he said even though it hadn't actually been that bad. It was just exhausting. After weeks of having no interactions with anyone besides his phone calls to her and the few conversations he'd had with his maids, being surrounded by hundreds of people for hours was really starting to take its toll on him.

“Hang in there, the days almost done,” she smiled reassuringly. “We can go to that cafe you like after school, my treat.” Eridan didn't deserve Feferi, but he had quickly realized that no one deserved Feferi so he smiled and nodded, wishing the day would end quicker. 

The class felt like it went on for hours. He wasn’t a fan of any sort of mathematics and it dragged on and left him feeling more exhausted than he had before he entered the class. Feferi seemed to share his sentiment because she had taken to absentmindedly doodling on her notebook as her eyes stared at the whiteboard in a confused gaze. He reckoned his face wasn’t any different. When class was finally over he tore a piece of paper out of his notebook where he had hastily written his number and went to Sollux before the other boy could leave, not bothering to put away his own stuff beforehand. He did not, however, anticipate the other boy to zoom out of class as soon as the bell rang.

“I gotta catch up to someone, Fef. Grab my bag?” He didn’t wait for her to reply and went down the hall to catch up to the other boy. He saw him by the lockers and jogged a little.

“Hey,” he called out as he saw Sollux finish grabbing his thugs and shut his locker. 

The dark haired boy turned and raised an eyebrow until he realized who was talking to him and his expression relaxed slightly. “We didn' set a time for the project.” Eridan was suddenly very nervous but continued anyways. “Here's my number, text me whenever and we can figure out when to get it done.” He almost panicked when the other boy only looked down at the piece of paper and didn’t say anything. Eridan, being very smooth, moved past Sollux, not waiting for an answer or presumably a rejection from the other boy, and headed for the door with Feferi hot on his trail.

“Who was that?~” She singsonged, pushing his book bag toward him.

“Sollux,” he told her and blamed his flush on her smirk.

“ _Sollux_ huh.”

“He's in my homeroom. We're doin’ a project together. Oh get that look off your face, Fef.”

“What look?” She asked innocently, the mirth in her eyes still very much present.

“That look you get whenever I talk to someone that’s not you.”

“I don’t have a look,” she insisted with a grin. “C’mon we have latte’s to drink and cupcakes to eat!” Eridan was very much looking forward to eating a red velvet cupcake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the thought of Eridan and Feferi going a little overboard on accessories lol  
> kudos and comments are appreciated :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux is a tech nerd with no cellphone (because I said so) and Cronus makes an appearance (sort of)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cronus briefly talks about getting laid in this chapter btw

Sollux didn’t know what to do. He’d never been in this particular situation. When Eridan had given him his phone number Sollux had just stood there, staring at it like an idiot. No one had ever given him their number before. He didn’t make friends or talk to people in general, especially not enough to have them feel the need to give him their number. He didn’t even _have_ a cellphone. His dad had offered to get him one when he started walking to his middle school on his own but Sollux never saw the need for one. It felt like an unnecessary waste of money that could be spent on something much more useful, like the wifi bill or a set of new monitors example. Even when his dad had said it was a good idea to have one for emergencies Sollux had scoffed and said he was a very fast runner and his dad had let it go.

Now he had a problem. He had the phone number of a very pretty boy who may or may not have been acting friendly toward him and he had no way of contacting him. He supposed he could borrow his brother’s phone. Mituna having a phone made a lot of sense since he needed a way to contact their dad in case he felt the need to and also because to be fucking honest Mituna actually had friends who regularly messaged him. So he did have that option but he also didn’t want his brother messaging Eridan and bothering him like Sollux knew he would if given the chance. This left his dad’s phone.

His dad was a very respectful person who would not message people he didn’t know but how was Sollux supposed to say _hey dad can I borrow your phone to text a cute boy?_. That was when Sollux remembered that it was for a project and he felt like an even bigger idiot. He went to his dad’s room and knocked on the open door, standing under the threshold. 

“Hey dad?”

“What’s up kiddo?” His dad was laying in bed, reading glasses on with an open novel balanced on his chest.

“Can I borrow your phone? I have to message a classmate about some project we gotta do.”

His dad looked around himself, feeling the blankets and then pulled his phone out of the bundles of pillows under his head. “Sure thing, here you go. Just be sure to return it before morning.”

Sollux nodded and grabbed the phone, turning to walk to the living room to throw himself on the couch. 

Now Sollux was left with another problem. Sending the first message.

He drafted several messages that ranged from _hey thii2 ii2 2ollux_ to _hii iit’2 the kiid from your homeroom me22agiing you about the project we have two fuckiing do_ to _you threw your number at me and ii’m a fuckiing 2ocial reclu2e so ii have no iidea wtf two 2ay two 2tart a conver2atiion._

Sollux settled with _2up._

He certainly had a way with words and didn’t have to wait long for Eridan to respond.

_Sollux?_

_The one and only_

_oh_  
_hello_

When Sollux said he didn't know how to carry on a conversation he meant it. 

_uh 2o the project_

_Right wwell I wwas thinkin after school this Friday?_  
_If that's okay_

Friday was fine. Friday was great actually because Mituna tended to get a bit excitable over the prospect of the weekend and being able to go to Eridan’s house and avoid that, would be great.

_that’2 fiine_ he texted back. Eridan then sent him a smiley emoji and he’s pretty sure the palpitation of his heart warrant a trip to the doctor.

 

 

The next day started with homeroom as well and he’d like to think he was more prepared. 

He was not. 

It was only his teacher that saved him from fumbling over what to say to Eridan. Eridan who upon entering the classroom had given him a small smile before sitting down in his seat in front of him. He was struggling over whether to say hi or hey or maybe even good morning when his teacher had decided to take the time to address some things.

She told them about some rules that had already been broken on the first day. Rules such as not having a hall pass during trips to the bathroom or arriving late to classes or the lack of care for the dress code.

“I see that not all of you have your complete uniform on and I would like to urge you to do so. It is not worth receiving detention due to a missing tie or missing blazer.” Sollux felt himself sink in his seat a little. He was once again not wearing his vest and his tie was hanging loose around his neck. It wasn't his fault he felt lame and stuffy with the uniform put on properly. It’s not like many of the others wore their uniform correctly.

She then handed out a paper to get signed about enforcing rules so that everyone's parents wouldn't be surprised when their children started getting in trouble. Sollux could already feel the disappointed look his dad would give him when he noticed that Sollux had contributed to the need for the reminder. He could also feel the guilt over not wearing a sweater that had cost more than he spent on food in a week.

The rest of the class went by pretty quickly after that. They were given free time to work on yesterday's assignments and Sollux took the opportunity to put on his headphones and work ahead on his geometry homework. He got a couple problems in when Eridan turned in his seat and placed his elbow on Sollux’s desk before leaning his chin on his hand.

Sollux removed his headphones. “What?”

“Oh um, the project,” he started. “I'll meet you by your locker and we can head over to my house from here on Friday?”

Oh right Sollux had no idea where the other boy lived. To be honest he hadn't even thought about how he'd get there since his dad worked and he'd gone home on the bus yesterday. 

“Right. Yeah, got it..”

He smiled a little. “Great.” He hesitated a little before turning back around and leaning over his own assignments. Sollux really wished he was less awkward and could actually hold a conversation, but he wasn't and he couldn't. He sighed heavily and put his headphones back on. 

 

The hardest part of the day really had to be lunch. He was used to sitting on his own. He had done so at his last school, but it was different here. Different because there were fewer tables and the lunchroom felt so much more crowded as a result. He didn't even bother trying to find an empty seat and decided to just find some shade in one of the fields outside. It was sunny outside but there was still wind and Sollux couldn't complain too much about the heat. He brought his own lunch, a sandwich he had hastily put together that morning, because he had seen the prices in the cafeteria yesterday and almost cried. No pizza slice should be $8, that was just wrong. 

As soon as he found a place to sit, a piece of grass against the back of a tree, he took his food out of his backpack and proceeded to eat. He liked the quiet of the field. There was a group of girls sitting on the grass a little ways away but they were far enough that their laughs barely reached him. It was nice. He pulled his laptop out of his backpack and went about working on a virus he would send one of his online friends who had insisted he couldn't program for shit. Sollux would show him and probably get a laugh while doing so. He was hoping he could finish it tonight so that he'd be able to see his reaction as soon as possible. With only a couple of hours before he could go home, Sollux typed away on his computer and enjoyed the silence while he had it.

~~~

 

When Eridan came home from school he went straight to his room, threw his backpack onto the floor, and himself onto his bed. He considered texting his mom he was home like he had yesterday, but she hadn't replied then and he didn't think he could deal with being ignored a second time.

It had been three weeks since he last saw his mother and even longer since he'd seen his father or brother. They were busy people, he knew that, but he couldn't help but feel like he was alone in the huge house, even with the maids running around keeping the place clean. 

Coming home from school was always the hardest. School, while a bit too much for his senses, was bright and full of life. There were people all around talking and laughing with their friends. School had Feferi and the nicer students who gave him polite smiles when he caught their eyes. 

His house, on the other hand, was cold and lonely and even his room wasn't enough to keep the chill at bay. He considered going to one of his sitting rooms and lighting a fire in the fireplace, but he knew it wasn't that kind of chill. He settled for turning onto his stomach and burying his face in his pillows instead. 

He contemplated starting on his homework since he didn't feel like doing anything else, but decided against it for now. That was when he remembered the paper that his homeroom teacher had given them today. He doubted he'd be able to get his parents to sign it and sighed heavily into his pillow. He'd grown used to forging his parents signatures after one too many missing or late forms over the years. Cronus had been really good at recreating their mother's signature and after he'd gotten an eyebrow raise from his mother, when she'd inevitably found out after being contacted for something she hadn't been aware she'd agreed to, she'd basically given them her own version of a shrug and let them continue as long as it didn't affect her badly. This was just another way his mother made sure she wasn't bothered with things she deemed unimportant. Like their health or education, Eridan thought bitterly.

Eridan's wasn't nearly as good at forging signatures as Cronus was but he was good enough to, at the very least, create a passable signature for their mother. 

He must have fallen asleep because he wakes up to the vibrating of his phone on his night stand. There was only one person who ever called him on Tuesday nights, or really in general, so he answered without pulling his face from his pillows.

“Hello?” he mumbled.

“Little bro, how’re ya? Started school yesterday, right?”

He groaned and moved his face to the side so that his voice wasn't muffled.

Cronus chuckled. “That bad?”

“No, no, it's fine. Good. Whatever.”

“Make any new friends yet? Meet any cute girls?”

“No,” he said. “And no.”

“Cute boys?” He must have hesitated because he could practically hear his brother's grin in his voice. “Oh, what’s this? Little Danny finally take a dip in the other end?”

“Shut up. It's not like that.”

“Really now. Sounds to me like it might be.”

“I haven't even said anythin’ yet, asshole.”

“You didn’ deny it either. That's as good as a confirmation in my book.”

“You would think so, you smarmy bastard.”

He laughed. “Aw c’mon tell your big brother all about this kid.”

“It's nothin’. He's sorta a friend, maybe?”

“A friend.” Eridan did not like the way he said that. “This friend got a name?”

Eridan hesitated but knew that Cronus would not let up until he was satisfied. “Sol. Sollux, I mean.”

“Sol, huh?” Eridan knew he was rubbing at his chin in that annoying way of his. “Interestin’.”

“It's really not. I've known him for all of two days.”

“A lot can happen in two days.”

“Ew,” Eridan scrunched his nose.

“Hey I'm not the one with their head in the gutter.”

“Your head practically lives in the gutter.”

He laughed. “Yeah. Speakin’ of the gutter, guess who got laid?”

Eridan scrunched his nose again. “Ugh you're disgustin’. I don't wanna hear about this.”

“Hey, can't you be proud of your big bro for scoring some choice ass?”

“Proud isn’ what I would be, no.”

He could almost see him roll his eyes. “Always so innocent, Danny. How old are ya, anyways?”

“Almost 15.”

“That's the prime age to be thinkin’ about this stuff.” If Eridan didn't know any better he'd think his brother was suggesting he go get himself laid. He did know better though and knew that his brother would probably be pissed if he lost his virginity at an earlier age than he had. “Anyways this guy was smokin’, a little bit of a chatterbox but not anythin’ I couldn’ fix once I found a better use for his mouth.”

Eridan groaned into his pillow dramatically and his brother laughed hard, finding it funny that he could always get a rise out of him. 

“Don't be such a prude, Danny.”

“I have homework to do.”

“Eh, fine whatever. I'll talk to ya later.”

“Yeah.” Cronus hung up after that and Eridan felt a little warmer than he had when he first got home. His brother might be an asshole but he was family and Eridan missed being able to hear his crappy music down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i surprisingly love writing my version of Cronus  
> Also i headcanon that Feferi calls Eridan "Er" while Cronus calls him "Danny"


End file.
